Review of Abita’s Turbodog Beer

I’ve spent more time in Louisiana than I care to remember. Sure, there have been countless inebriated nights on the streets of New Orleans and Baton Rouge with good music and good friends. The food is always great and for the most part the weather is decent. But there’s always been something a little strange about the real hardcore natives. For all their bizarre ways and customs, one thing I admire about them is their sense of local pride. In this spirit, it seems like the only beer you can drink in Louisiana without garnering nasty looks from the locals is something that came from the tanks at the Abita Brewing Company. The favorite among these seems to be their famous Turbodog, which is a takeoff on the English brown ale style.

With a beer like this, supposing I’m not drinking straight from a tap, I always like to pour my bottles into a pint glass to get the full effect. The coloration here is a medium dark brown with distinct hints of ruby. It’s quite gorgeous, actually. The head comes up about half to three quarters of an inch thick and leaves behind a respectable lacing one it dies down. So far it’s looking to be a good choice. The aroma has a distinct toasted malt quality to it with a few fruity notes floating around in there somewhere. Not bad nor all that different from many English brown ales I’ve tried.

The flavor has some kind of chocolate quality, and this pairs nicely with the toffee taste I also get. It ends with a hop bitterness that I find to be a great finish. It’s not an incredibly complex beer, but it serves its purpose and does so with some solid ingredients. A quick glance at the label reveals a 5.6% alcohol by volume content, which adds to this beer’s session-worthy status. My friends in Louisiana have been known to put away as many as eight to ten of these bad boys in a single evening. These guys like to get buzzed in the swampy south and they count on Abita to make it happen. Turbodog is not a bad choice for this, even considering its relatively thick consistency.